Colleges of Worcester Consortium splits, MassEdCO born

WORCESTER — The Colleges of Worcester Consortium, which once did everything from work with seventh-graders to run shuttle buses between college campuses, has officially split into two parts.

The two groups are Massachusetts Education and Career Opportunities Inc. and the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.

The larger of the two, the part of the consortium with a $3.5 million mainly grant-funded budget, is Massachusetts Education and Career Opportunities Inc., or MassEdCO. It is keeping the consortium's former offices in the Denholm Building, 484 Main St, and its new CEO is Pamela Boisvert, who was vice president of the consortium.

MassEdCO did not lose any grants as a result of the split and will keep providing programs such as Educational Opportunity Centers, Educational Talent Search, GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), the Collegiate Success Institute, CollegeAccess and a program for early childhood educators. All the programs are free, and most are aimed at low-income individuals.

Students start as young as seventh grade. Adults come as career changers or career seekers.

"Our main goal is to make this whole transition as seamless as possible," Ms. Boisvert said. "The programs have been around for 40 years, but in a sense, people look at us as if we're new."

The much smaller part of the split consortium is still called the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, but it will eventually get a new name, said Anna Maria College President Jack P. Calareso, who is currently chairman of the consortium's board. The consortium has moved to Anna Maria for the time being, and its new director is Jeanine B. Went. She started last week and is the organization's only employee, but another full- or part-time staff member might be added, Mr. Calareso said.

Mark P. Bilotta, who was CEO of the consortium until the split, left June 30, but he is chairman of MassEdCO's board.

"While I'm certainly keeping options open, my focus for now will be on higher education consumer advocacy," Mr. Bilotta said in an email. He plans to launch a free website this summer to help parents and students measure the value and risk of attending a given college.

The consortium lost approximately six employees as a result of the split, Ms. Boisvert said. They were people who split their time between the member services and college access sides. To make up for that loss, MassEdCO has hired a part-time information technology person and a part-time chief financial officer, she said.

The consortium's pared-down member services division will include some core services and offer some "a la carte." Core services will include the cross-registration program that allows students at member colleges to take courses for credit and at no additional cost at other member colleges; joint purchasing programs; and advocacy for higher education in Central Massachusetts, Mr. Calareso said. For those core services, consortium members will each pay $15,000 to start. That's "considerably less" than what colleges were paying under a formula-driven system before, he said.

"We wanted everyone to feel like it was a worthwhile investment," Mr. Calareso said.

Additional services that colleges could purchase as desired will include a teaching certificate program for new college faculty members who haven't had a lot of experience, the shuttle between campuses and perhaps professional development for mid-level managers at the colleges.

The consortium members are Anna Maria, Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, MCPHS University, Nichols College, Quinsigamond Community College, Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Worcester State University.